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CrustChain: Resolving the blockchain trilemma via decentralized storage and proof-of-capacity consensus

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  • Saha Reno
  • Koushik Roy

Abstract

The blockchain trilemma—achieving scalability, security, and decentralization simultaneously—remains an unsolved challenge in distributed systems. This paper introduces CrustChain, a novel framework that advances decentralized storage and consensus via three key innovations: (1) a reputation-weighted (where node influence scales with storage contribution and historical reliability) Proof-of-Capacity mechanism with temporal Sealed-Post (SPoSt) challenges, (2) hybrid erasure-network coding for 82% storage cost reduction, and (3) MDP-optimized sharding for sub-second cross-shard latency. By combining storage resource guarantees with a sharded validation layer, CrustChain processes 1,450 transactions per second (TPS) at sub-second latency while maintaining a chain quality score (fraction of blocks produced by honest nodes) of 0.94 under 40% Byzantine nodes. The system reduces on-chain storage overhead by 82% compared to Bitcoin through decentralized content addressing and Merkle forest compression. Experimental results demonstrate 99.99% data durability across 1,024 global nodes with $150 hardware requirements, achieving energy efficiency of 0.3 Joules per transaction (0.05% of Bitcoin’s consumption), and outperforming Filecoin’s storage costs by 63%. CrustChain’s layered architecture sets a new benchmark for blockchain systems requiring both high throughput and censorship resistance.

Suggested Citation

  • Saha Reno & Koushik Roy, 2025. "CrustChain: Resolving the blockchain trilemma via decentralized storage and proof-of-capacity consensus," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 20(8), pages 1-28, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0328395
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0328395
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